Jim McKee: A medical college for Bethany

Today, Nebraskas physicians are all schooled in Omaha, but at the time the Nebraska Territory formed, a few local doctors existed in name only, and many, like attorneys, simply studied under practicing professionals. As time progressed, doctors simply had to pass state exams to establish practices. By statehood in 1867, cities, often little more than villages, felt the need to establish colleges, and a few considered medical colleges as proof that they were indeed successful. Lincoln, and even Bethany, Nebraska, were not immune to that lofty goal.

In 1883, the Nebraska Legislature authorized creation of three medical departments in the University of Nebraska. Unfortunately, Lincolns size, which could not provide adequate specimens or potential learning patients, led to the medical schools closure in 1887, ultimately to be reborn in Omaha.

Eclectic medicine of the day could be compared loosely to alternative medicine today and was often practiced in conjunction with regular medicine. Proponents employed common curatives, were opposed to bloodletting and did not employ mercury, arsenic or other chemicals they considered poisons. Several Lincoln eclectic physicians saw the potential demise of the universitys medical school. Doctors Latta, Bently, Van Camp, Grimes and others approached Nebraska Christian University in Bethany, Nebraska, on May 27, 1889, with the proposal that they open a medical college within the existing school. As a result of the meeting, Nebraska Christian agreed it would supply fully equipped rooms at its university but warned that the medical college had to be self-sustaining and that it would retain the right to approve all staff hirings and could remove professors it felt inappropriate.

Lincoln Medical College/Department of Medicine Cotner University thus was organized in 1889 and initially offered a three-year course, each term six months. That fall the medical school opened in laboratories and classrooms on the fourth floor of the Bethany building, with 14 professors and Dr. Latta as dean, and contracted with several local hospitals for facilities. Because of the six-month class schedule and some students entering with transfer credits, it actually was able to have two graduates in 1891.

Although the first few years graduates apparently were able to satisfy Nebraskas licensing requirements, in 1893 the State Board of Health denied recognition of the school, because it had no hospital or clinic as part of its facilities. This was circumvented rather easily the following year when the college announced the acquisition of the Hotel Ideal at 121 S. 14th St. in Lincoln, which had been converted into a combination school and hospital with open clinic hours.

With an entire building connected to a large house to the south, the school also opened the Lincoln Dental College of Cotner University in September 1899. The dental school lasted but briefly, becoming affiliated with the University of Nebraska, though still known as the Lincoln Dental College.

In 1900, classes were extended to seven months, and in 1901, Dr. J.M. Keyes of Omaha was made the schools second dean. By 1906, the college had 30 medical doctors and several lecturers on staff, with 15 freshmen, 14 sophomores, 21 juniors and 19 seniors attending classes. Tuition for what was then a four-year course was listed at $75 per year, and potential enrollees were advised that women would be admitted as students on the same conditions as men but not members of other races.

Dean W.N. Ramey announced in 1908 that although the school remained in the heart of the business center of the city of Lincoln, future lab courses, embryology, histology, bacteriology and pathology would be transferred back to Bethany. The move caused reorganization as Cotner University Medical College in 1911, with fees adjusted to $100 per year.

By 1916, all medical college connections with Cotner ended, resulting in Cotner University becoming Cotner College. With the end of its medical school, Cotner noted it had graduated a total of 249 physicians who practiced in 19 states. The downtown hospital and school building was once again Hotel Ideal, which was razed in the 1920s for a nearly quarter-block Coryelle filling station and is now the site of a parking garage across 14th Street from the Bennett Martin Public Library.

In retrospect, it is said that the school was handicapped because it was an eclectic institution but did graduate a number of well-respected physicians.

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Jim McKee: A medical college for Bethany